Magnificient, truly heavy piece of industrial music. Powerful tones, harsh vocals, cold, hellish atmosphere... there is only one album like this.

Press reviews from the time the album was released:
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"No Paradise To Lose" - Foreshadow Productions (Poland) - 2004

Rating: 4 / 5

Polish duo dwelling in Canadian land once again strikes with brutal indutrial doom experiments, this time captured on the full-length album (second in their discography) entitled 'No Paradise to Lose'. Their 1997 album 'Slavic Blasphemy' was very good, but this one is even much much better! Two powerful forces meet on this cold ground: the first one which provides, I would said, substructure is solid, brutal doom / death metal (think of dISEMBOWELMENT or WINTER) and the other one is LAIBACH-like industrial exhalations. While comparing to 'Slavic Blasphemy', the brand-new album seems to put more emphasis on this latter force. But it is not lighter than the first album. No! it's equally or maybe even more brutal than 'Slavic Blasphemy' but the proportions are perfectly arranged and the band achieves very good result. I have mentioned LAIBACH with forethought because ZARAZA have always been proud of their inspiration flowing from these industrial masters and on 'No Paradise to Lose' they gave it a patricular form - simply, the LAIBACH cover. The whole album is extremely cold, slow, brutal, hateful, uncompromising and obscure. And it's perfect. ZARAZA perform their art in a very sophisticated way, no one plays like these guys. They have their own world in which they drown and once in a few years they emerge from the depths throwing up sheer masterpieces of evil art - one of them is 'No Paradise to Lose'. Buy or die!

"No Paradise To Lose" - Soulkiller Webzine (US/Canada) - 2004

It has been many, many years since we had a new Zaraza cd to enjoy, apparently due to the busy schedule of leadman Jacek, who among other things ran a great metal review and news site. Finally, the choice was made, and his site was closed so he could devote more time to other more pressing projects (such as this cd). I believe strongly there is a time to enjoy and be inspired by other people's work, but then that time must come where the observer must become the creator, and I'm glad Jacek and his accomplice Grzegorz have gotten back to creating. The result is 8 songs of polish-canadian doom, 7 original compositions and 1 Laibach cover. This cd is somewhat slower than their last cd, plenty of held distorted chords, super low computer processed vocals, samples, and the usual accouterments of any good doom band such as the lamenting vocals, church bells tolling, etc. Slow symphonic bits slowly build into these densely distorted synth-guitar climaxes, all the while the drum machine ticking away at it's preprogrammed pattern. The last track includes a goat poem from Grzegorz Haus Ov Doom which is both silly and spooky at the same time. If I had to make a critique it would be that one day it would be cool if the band used a few more live instruments instead of it all being synth, and a slightly faster song may have also broken things up a bit. But as it stands, this is a fantastic album, and I highly recommend it to doom fans (and to those who may just not know they're fans of doom, yet).

"No Paradise To Lose" - MROCK webzine (Poland) - 2004

Rating: 8.2

Polish version:

Zaraza to projekt powolany do zycia przez dwoch Polakow mieszkajacych na codzien w Montrealu. No Paradise To Lose to juz ich drugi pelnowymiarowy material. Zaraza proponuje muzyke, ktora nie jest latwo jednoznacznie okreslic. Ma ona w sobie tyle elementow, ze wrzucenie jej do jakiejkolwiek szufladki oznaczaloby dyskryminacje ktoregos z nich. Najkrocej mozna to ujac tak: Zaraza reprezentuje nurt doom/death/industrialnego metalu. Co to oznacza? Raz, doomowy klimat, ciezkosc, gesta atmosfere. Dwa, deathowy (przewaznie) wokal. Trzy, industrialna warstwe instrumentalna, przejawiajaca sie w niklym uzyciu gitar, a operowaniu raczej instrumentami klawiszowymi i perkusyjnymi oraz przeroznymi efektami dzwiekowymi pelniacymi role „zageszczaczy” brzmienia. Cholernie na tej plycie gesto. Duszna atmosfera i emanujacy z muzyki chlod robia niesamowite wrazenie. A gdy jeszcze w dwoch kawalkach wokal na moment odpuszcza growl i czysto po polsku deklamuje, wtedy nastroj grozy narasta. Super. Mowi sie, ze Zaraza wiele zawdziecza Laibachowi. Owszem, to slychac. Szczegolnie wczesnym produkcjom (znalazla sie tu zreszta zarazowa wersja Novej Akropolii). Nie bardzo potrafie spokojnie sluchac muzyki Zarazy, bo ma ona te rzadko spotykana wlasciwosc, ktora sprawia, ze dzwieki nie ulatuja rownie szybko, jak sie pojawily, lecz zastygaja, zawisaja w powietrzu. Duchota.

English translation:

Zaraza is a project created by two Poles living in Montreal. No Paradise To Lose is already their second full-length album. Zaraza creates music that is not easy to clearly describe. It has in it so many elements, that throwing it into any sort of drawer would mean discriminating against one of them. To make it short we can say that Zaraza represents a style of doom/death/industrial metal. What does that mean? First, doom mood, heaviness, thick atmosphere. Second, death (mostly) vocals. Third, industrial instrumental layer, showing up via less focus on guitars and more on keyboards, drums and various sound effects which are used to thicken up the sound. This album sounds damn thick. The suffocating atmosphere and cold that emanates from it creates an incredible impression. When in two songs the vocals stop growling and starting clean declamations in Polish, then the feeling of terror truly increases. Excellent. People say that Zaraza owes a lot to Laibach. True, one can hear that. Especially to their earlier works (evident in the included Zaraza cover of Nova Akropola). I can't really calmly listen to the music of Zaraza, since it has that rare trait that sounds don't evaporate as soon as they appear, but stick around, floating in the air. Suffocation.

"No Paradise To Lose" - Exclaim (Canada) - 2004

If you can remember way, way back to the debut album from Toronto’s Soulstorm you’ll have a head start on grasping the aesthetics driving Zaraza’s No Paradise to Lose. Very techno geek in some ways (heavy on the science-fiction culture and the use of electronics) No Paradise to Lose also exudes an evil death metal vibe. Slow and nasty, Zaraza come off at times like a degenerate sci-fi evolution of Summoning. Even the album’s production contributes images of cold machinery with its sharp angularity, and a sense of hard surfaces working against each other rather than blending into a uniform substance. Consider this creepy “Polish Canadian” industrial doom metal and throw it on when you’re in the mood for some horror.

"No Paradise To Lose" - doom-metal.com (Aldo Quispel) - 2004

After six years since their last visit to the planet earth the misanthropic, goat-worshipping aliens known as Zaraza have again visited our planet, this time leaving 'No Paradise to Lose' behind as their newest attempt to enslave humanity.

Apparently due to the fact that mastermind Jacek was not quite happy with the mix, the album was plagued by delay after delay before being finally released. The work put into this album however clearly shows. If compared to its predecessor the steps forwards are tremendous. The song structures and overall musical compositions are better, and if at all possible it is even more blood chilling and haunting then their debut album 'Slavic Blasphemy'. Their music is simply too disturbing to have been made by human beings.

They again succeeded perfectly in setting a claustrophobic, sick, twisted and utterly dark atmosphere. Their particular mixture of Industrial sounds with Doom-metal still make Zaraza one of the most unique bands out there. To start to understand how they sound imagine an unholy marriage between bands as diverse as Skinny Puppy, Velvet Acid Christ, Winter, Laibach, Thergothon, Skepticism, Morbid Angel and Bolt Thrower.

Zaraza's music invokes visions of a dark twisted future, cruel dictatorships, failed human experiments, the image of a thousand black boots of demonic solders marching in line, morbid blood rituals and human enslavement. A dark, horror and science fiction-like feeling creeps up on you. Lyrically we are, among other things, told about how there is no saviour, no hope, no God. Cold science teaching us we are hopeless and destined to live our lives in misery.

The Laibach cover of 'Nova Akropola' fits in perfectly with this concept and also provides Zaraza with an opportunity to pay their respect to a band that has been a major influence for them. This is further enhanced by the limited edition CD-r 'Montrealska Akropola, a Tribute to Laibach'. This CD-r was added as a bonus for the early buyers of the album. Looking at their website now, it seems this offer is unfortunately no longer valid. The quality of this CD-r is a little less then of the main album, but also blood chilling and haunting. So overall everything I've said so far about 'No Paradise to lose' also applies to the bonus disk.

Overall 'No Paradise to Lose' is one of the highest quality releases of the last year. Exceptional, home-grown (!), production (due to the fact that both Zaraza members are audiophiles), blood chilling music with many hidden layers to discover (this really is headphone music) and packaged in a DVD case, Zaraza offers you great quality of your hard earned cash.

Despite my praise, I do not think that Zaraza is for every metal-head due to the high industrial injection into their music. This is not your standard Doom-METAL band; no many treaded paths are walked. For the traditional-minded metal listener it might pose a bit too much of a shock to digest. If you prefer your metal... METAL then you at the very least should listen before buying; however if you are a bit more open-minded and you are looking for music to give you the creeps and cause some serious nightmares, then rush off to their website to order your copy today!

"No Paradise To Lose" - doom-metal.com (Chaim Drishner) - 2004

Zaraza, meaning a parasite in some Slavic languages (in Polish maybe, in Russian for sure), is more than anything a Laibach worship, worshipping, worshippers… They do not try to hide the fact, for they have incorporated a Laibach cover song 'Nova Acropola' into they new, second album, as well as added a 4-song Laibach tribute CD-R as an additive to the DVD-packaged new album, 'No Paradise to Lose'. For this fact, Zaraza cannot be immediately recognized as a doom metal par excellence outfit, nor a metal band altogether... And I fucking like it, just because of that. You see, you can be Satanic even outside the black metal circles (mostly jokes-for-bands there…) you can be Satanic, you can write good God-denying music, in an intelligent fashion, summoning the metallic voice of Steven Hawking to aid you proving your point ('the universe is self-contained and without a creator'...).

Zaraza are cold, so fucking cold and emotionless, that a human heart can freeze if listening to this music without a warning. Being cold is cool (literally) but what I like about this second album of those Polish-Canadian immigrants is that their music's industrial tinge is really of an industrial origin, a true industrial essence. The music contains true industry, i.e., metal pipes being hammered, some mechanic sounds, some other factory-related sounds, sad, annoying, non-human sounds of decay, burden, suffering and hopelessness as if we all are only cannon-fodder for the daily grind of this over-technological, over-mechanized era, where people are only economic pawns that are destined to produce and manufacture, for the benefit of a greater scheme, of which they are not familiar with. As if Einsturzende Neubauten had joined with Skin Chamber, and spawned some bastard child whose uncle is the above mentioned Laibach, and whose relatives are any wretched feeling, deed or wrong-doing known to mankind…

Zaraza are the new age prophets in more than one sense; They have created a new musical dimension, which is an upgrade of all that is fearsome is doom metal, coupled with anything which a really disturbing electronic music can be: cold, repetitive, industrial death it is, not as in death metal (what is so deadly is death metal I do not know…) but dead music, lifeless and foreboding, but so much powerful and dynamic, a fact that overshadows the monotony of it all. In all my long time experience with what ever kind of musical expression, mainly in the metal underground and the industrial/electronics realm, never have I encountered such a unique musical entity, that manifests almost perfectly (only God is perfect, yes?) everything which I, personally love about heavy, obscure - and to some extent - prophetic music. If only for the originality factor, this album gets my highest praise, but it contains so much more than just that. Although I own also Zaraza's debut album 'Slavic blasphemy', I wish not make any sorts of comparisons here, first, because I am not so much familiar with the debut, and second, because I think this album deserves to be judged upon its own, if only for the fact it has truly caught my attention in these crowded times when albums are being mindlessly released in an increasing rate, albums which are faceless, nameless and those which are time and again fail to catch my attention for more than a single listen. Zaraza are a highly intelligent duo of musicians, creating an insane, heavy-as-fuck, super-human musical experience, slow, mysterious , ultra-bleak and disturbing to the hilt. This album comes as highly recommended, as this is, my friends, fucking industrial doom (and much more).

"No Paradise To Lose" - www.metal-archives.com - 2004

A fuckin' masterpiece! - 95%

"Brutal Experimental Symphonic Industrial Death Doom Metal". This concise self-description should be enough to sway any person considering the music of ZARAZA. Main member Doomhammer shows us that a union of several different styles is possible, since they all spawn from the same fountain of origin. Imagine back in the day, that diSEMBOWELMENT was bred with Skinny Puppy. Their bastard child of sin would be Quebec, Canada’s Zaraza. In fact, this mutation is exactly why the band’s second release, No Paradise to Lose, strikes so deeply. Bringing together the most extreme and ultimate sound of Death Doom Metal, with the uncertainty and dehumanizing effect of old school Industrial, No Paradise to Lose is a most beautifully haunting experience. This originality makes it that much more appealing. The music ranges from devastating death metal blast beats to slow down-tempo doom metal, to deranged sampling and synthetic & noisy industrial...all within one lengthy track. It is hard to put into words what Zaraza truly is. One can say it is the evolution of extreme music, leading the way for future musicians, alongside bands like ...and Oceans & Red Harvest. Complete with a brilliant Laibach cover, the pounding of the Zaraza hammer is loud and clear on No Paradise to Lose, and this album cries out to anyone who is looking for something new, underground, and vastly original.

"No Paradise To Lose" - Thrash'Em All Magazine (Poland) - 2004

Rating: 5 / 5

Polish version:

Urwalo mi leb, ale zdazylem jeszcze trzesaca sie z przejecia lapa wklepac piec Krzyzy Walecznych. Nie znalem wczesniej tego zespolu, ale teraz bije sie w piersi i obiecuje, ze bede na biezaco sledzil ich poczynania. ZARAZA to projekt dwoch polskich emigrantow, powstaly w Montrealu w 1993 roku. "No Paradise To Lose" jest drugim CD wydanym przez tych desperatow i powiem Wam, ze dawno nie slyszalem tak chorego, mrocznego i przenikliwie zimnego materialu. Panowie Jacek i Grzegorz Haus Ov Doom okreslaja swoja muzyke mianem brutalnego, industrialnego doom metalu. Wy sprobujcie wyobrazic sobie polaczenie symfoniki LAIBACH, industrialnych biczy GODFLESH, dodajcie do tego zelbetonowy ciezar WINTER i z powyzszych skladnikow wyjdzie wam mniej wiecej to cos, co ZARAZA materializuje w swych zjelczalych, pandemonicznych wizjach. Nie wiem co oni tam zwykli jadac, pic i palic w tej Kanadzie, ale maci im to strasznie we lbach, efektem czego jest ten material. Juz samo przebywanie w zasiegu smolistych dzwiekow emitowanych przez "No Paradise To Lose" sprawi, ze poczujecie sie jak przekleci. Malo gitar i metalu, duzo ciemnych tonow, inkantacji, skrzekow i zlorzeczeñ. Mus dla maniakow piekla w innym wydaniu!

English translation:

My head got blown off, but with arms trembling from fright I still managed to give them five Iron Crosses. I didn't know this band before, but now I promise to follow their endeavours on an ogoing basis. ZARAZA is the project of 2 Polish immigrants, created in Montreal in 1993. "No Paradise To Lose" is the second CD put out by these desperados and I can tell you I haven't heard in a long time anything this sick, dark and chillingly cold. Mr. Jacek and Grzegorz Haus Ov Doom describe their music as brutal industrial doom metal. You should try to imagine a combination of the symphonics of LAIBACH, the industrial lashes of GODFLESH, add to that the reinforced concrete-like heaviness of WINTER and from these ingredients you will get more or less that what ZARAZA materializes in their rotten, pandemonic visions. I have no idea as to what they usually eat, drink and smoke in that Canada, but it must mess horribly with their heads, resulting in this material. Just being within the range of the tar-like sounds emitted by "No Paradise To Lose" will make you feel like one of the damned. Less guitars and metal, lots of dark tones, incantations and evil curses. A must for fans of a different type of hell!

"No Paradise To Lose" - Chronicles of Chaos (U.S.A.) - 2004

Rating: 8 / 10

When I first popped the press copy I was sent of Zaraza's latest musical offering, I have to admit I was extremely disappointed. The music seemed to drag, and was devoid of any driving continuity or memorable spots (though I'll admit I kind of scanned through the CD, previewing the first few seconds of a song and/or pressing down the search button on my quest to find something redeeming). This is the absolute worst way to experience this band, which after a few listens I've realized are quite brilliant in their extraordinarily abstract approach. Calling this ambient music is unfair (they refer to themselves as "brutal experimental industrial doom death metal" -- better than any description I could muster from my vocabulary). Although _No Paradise to Lose_ works as good background music, I'd sooner imagine their eight song album as a mood-setter to a demon-worshipping ritual involving human sacrifice -- in outer space. In a word, these guys are bizarre. In two words, wonderfully bizarre. Like some sort of patchwork creature that's feasted upon the musical collective of bands as varied as Godflesh, My Dying Bride, Skinny Puppy, early Mortiis, and Morbid Angel, and chased said bands with an army of marching soldiers, B-horror movies, and some bad downers. Zaraza's got plenty of space to move around and experiment within the sub-sub-subgenre they've implanted into the musical world, and a hell of a lot of potential. No wonder Gino declared _Slavic Blasphemy_ (the band's debut full length) one of the Top 10 Albums of 1998.

"No Paradise To Lose" - FleshRites.com (Spain) - 2004

Rating: 9.75 / 10

From Montreal, Canada comes this duet (Jacek And Grzegorz), that after releasing two previous works, they introduce to us this incredible "No Paradise To Lose", an amalgam of industrial sounds ped as slow, heavy, agonic and even alien-like doom. Electronic music elements they add to their music raise it and also make it impossible to label, having no idea if you're listening to a Thergothon like band or to Ministry like one.

Sonoric apocalypsis Zaraza provide is the one on which you'll find tons of different disturbing sounds, with some metal instruments as a flanged guitars, a keyboards that sometimes remember the Roman epoch (as in Possesed By Skepticism), sometimes to out space, and a programmed drums sometimes fast but ussualy slow but incesant beating, making fresh music and overall not depending on an instrument but on the twisted mind of the musicians!

Supreme!!!